I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
by PadawanMage
Summary: Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry continue watching the Star Wars trilogy, as they now comment on The Empire Strikes Back. This is an inspired sequel to B Bennett's Story, 'A Certain Point of View'.


Title: "I've Got a Bad Feeling About This"  
  
By: Padawanmage  
  
Note: Thanks must be given to B Bennett for inspiration as well as her blessings to write this story. It can be found here in the site: http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=163196  
  
****  
  
Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry all leaned back on the couch as the beginning fanfare to the second movie began. Ron had a thoughtful (almost sly) expression on his face as he leaned over to Harry. "Harry, what say we place a little wager?" he asked as he grabbed a handful of popcorn.  
  
"On what---oh, you're still on about Han getting the girl, are you?" Harry said, exasperatedly.  
  
Ginny chuckled a bit as she looked over at Hermione. "Reminds you of Ludo Bagman, doesn't he?" Ron ignored the comment (as well as Hermione's laugh) as he continued to look at Harry.  
  
"Well?"  
  
Harry looked thoughtfully at the ceiling and started to rub his hands together. "Okay, fine, how about this: If I win, and Luke gets the girl, you have to brush Crookshanks for a whole week the next time Hermione comes down to the Burrow---without magic." He said with a smile.  
  
Ron looked positively aghast at the idea. Although Crookshanks had been instrumental in exposing his pet rat Scabbers, for Peter Pettigrew, he still felt somewhat uncomfortable around him. "Fine," he said recovering somewhat, "but if I win and Solo gets the girl, you have to degnome the garden for a whole week the next time you stop over for the summer holidays- --without magic."  
  
Harry's eyes widened a bit at the thought of battling potato-sized creatures that kept trying to bite his fingers off, but he nodded anyway. "Deal." He said as he brought his hand over to shake Ron's.  
  
"Oh, you two are such prats!" exclaimed Ginny.  
  
"What?" Ron and Harry both said in surprise as they jumped back.  
  
But Ginny was shaking her head in disgust. "What is it with guys having to 'get the girl'?"  
  
Ron and Harry both looked at each other in astonishment at seeing 'little' Ginny speaking up. "Well, what do you suggest then?" asked Ron.  
  
Ginny looked from Harry to Ron. "Why not bet on who Leia admits her love to, instead of which guy is going to snog her to death?" Harry's eyebrows shot up past his bangs and Ron looked at his sister in wonderment.  
  
"Ginny---I'm impressed!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because it's the first time you said the word 'snog' without becoming embarrassed." Ron said mildly and ducked as he narrowly missed getting hit by a Weasley-powered Bludger. "Okay, okay! You win!" he said laughing. "Harry, do you agree to the new terms set by our new 'impartial' judge?" he said with a wink to his sister.  
  
"Most definitely." Harry said as he shook Ron's hand.  
  
"Right," said Ginny, "Now that that silliness is over, can we please get back to the movie?"  
  
"You just want to see Leia snog another droid, is all." Murmured Harry as he fiddled with the volume on the remote. Ron, whose face was stuffed with popcorn, nearly choked, as Ginny finally did turn scarlet, though this did not stop her from slapping Harry's arm.  
  
Ron, still chuckling, sat back and continued watching the movie. After several scenes, he leaned over and said to Harry, "There, see! It's obvious that he likes her, since he wants to give her a goodbye kiss!"  
  
Hermione looked at Ron pointedly, "Actually, Ron, if you'd listen a little better, you'd notice he wasn't confessing his affection to her, but rather trying to get her to confess her feelings for him." She said primly. "Just like a guy." She said, almost as an afterthought.  
  
Ron glanced at Hermione, a little annoyed. "You know, there is someone in this movie who definitely reminds me of you, Hermione." He said brightly.  
  
"Who?" She said warily.  
  
"Threepio," he said with a smirk, "You and he could talk about Hogwarts: A History until Snape becomes the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."  
  
"Ouch." Murmured Harry as he covered his eyes with a hand.  
  
Hermione's eyes narrowed at Ron, but said nothing. They continued watching the movie up through the unfolding Hoth battle.  
  
"Blimey, the rebels really are getting their arses handed to them in a platter, aren't they?" commented Ron.  
  
"Eh, you should be used to this sort of thing, Ron." Said Ginny, who got a questioning look from her brother. "Well, you DO keep rooting for the Chudley Cannons." She said sweetly. Everyone, with the exception of Ron, started laughing. Harry himself nearly fell off the couch.  
  
"Oh, fun-ny." Ron said sarcastically as Ginny high-fived Hermione. Harry, wiping tears out of his eyes, finally caught his breath.  
  
"You know---heh---I hate to say this, but Ron has a point. It does look like the Empire really is winning here." He said.  
  
Hermione tucked her legs beneath her and nodded. "Unfortunately, that is a major theme in this movie: the bad guys win. Happens in the middle of a lot of epic sagas; movies and books included. Hence the title." She said with a shrug. "But, you'll get to see one of the most memorable characters in the trilogy coming soon."  
  
They continued watching as Luke heads to Dagobah. "Well, Luke can't be that good a Jedi if he can't land his own ship very well, can he?" Ron said with a chuckle.  
  
"Luke hasn't been fully trained, you git." Harry said through mouthfuls of popcorn. "Dagobah reminds me of the Forbidden Forest---only wetter." He glanced at Ron. "You try landing in the Forest with my Firebolt going all out." He did a double take as he noticed Ron's delighted expression. "And NO, you won't."  
  
After a few more minutes, Ginny leaned forward to frown at the screen. "Would someone explain to me what a Gringotts goblin is doing in this movie?"  
  
Hermione sighed and shook her head, pausing the movie. "That's not a goblin, Ginny. That's Yoda, the Jedi master that Luke was sent to so that he could learn more about the Force."  
  
Ron looked skeptical. "Hard to tell with those ears of his." He said looking over at Hermione. "What else is this Yoda going to teach Luke? Principles of Compound Interest?" Hermione simply stuck her tongue out at him.  
  
"Yoda plays an important role in the movie, Ron." Hermione stretched. "He's the old sage that the hero must learn important lessons from if he's to continue in his quest."  
  
Ron merely shrugged. "Okay, okay." He said with a grin. "Just play the movie and we'll see what Yodel teaches Luke."  
  
"Yoda!"  
  
"Whatever."  
  
Once again, they all lapsed into silence as the movie continued for some time.  
  
"Ooh, here comes a romantic part." Hermione said. All eight eyes were glued to the screen as Leia and Han share a kiss. The girls sighed dreamily, Ron grinned triumphantly, and Harry looked dumb-founded.  
  
"I don't believe it---" he murmured.  
  
Ron leaned back and rested his hands behind his head. "Ah, I can just see those gnomes flying this summer." He said with relish.  
  
"Ah, ah!" Said Ginny, "She didn't confess her love to him."  
  
Harry still shook his head. "It doesn't make any sense how those two, with all their bickering and arguing, could kiss like that! I mean Han isn't even up to par in the smarts department."  
  
"First off," started Ron, "I honestly don't want to see Han snog either Chewbacca or the droid. Second, what do you mean no smarts?" he finished, a little annoyed.  
  
"Well, look." Harry pointed at the movie. " 'Ooo, I'll just park the Millennium Falcon down the gullet of this giant flobberworm', yeah, that's smart." He said with a roll of his eyes.  
  
Ron merely shook his head. "Someone must've slipped some boobertuber pus in your soda, Harry, because he only did that because he had no other choice. And Luke doesn't exactly have a brain the size of a planet either." He glanced back at the movie. "See, he's leaving prematurely before he's had time to finish studying with Yoda."  
  
"Because he knows his friends are in danger and he thinks he can help." Harry said pointedly.  
  
Ron looked thoughtful. "I dunno, I think the hero's risking too much for his friends if he loses sight of his quest." He said, jerking his head in Hermione's direction.  
  
"It also shows how human he is, Ron." Hermione answered gently. "And I think this is a good time for an intermission." The movie stopped with a click from the remote. "Besides," she shook the bowl, "We need more popcorn. Who's helping me?"  
  
"I'll go." Said Harry, as he grabbed the empty glasses and followed Hermione into the kitchen. While she rummaged in the cupboard for another bag of popcorn kernels, he went to the fridge and grabbed another soda. As he was filling the glasses, he saw her get up on to the counter to look harder for a bag.  
  
"Hermione?" he asked quietly.  
  
"Hmm?" came a muffled reply.  
  
"D'you---d'you really think the hero is losing his way?" he asked. Hermione, whose hands were full with a very large plastic bag, looked thoughtfully at Harry. She didn't answer immediately, but got off the counter, opened the bag, and started to pour kernels into the air-popper.  
  
"No hero is perfect, Harry." Hermione answered quietly. "They all have flaws of some sort, in any story you look into. It's how they deal with them that's important."  
  
Harry nodded, but still looked a little troubled. "I know, but I see Luke, who never knew his parents, was brought up by his aunt and uncle, has so much riding on his shoulders.it'd be nice to know he's got someone who's there for him---not just a friend." He said quietly.  
  
Hermione, setting the air-popper on, looked sympathetically at Harry. She walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "If it's any consolation, Luke does find someone."  
  
Harry perked up a little. "Really? Do we see it in the movies?"  
  
Hermione shook her head. "I only know the 3 movies, my mum is the one who's the Star Wars fanatic. From what she's told me, the girl Luke ends up with is mentioned a lot in canon."  
  
"What's canon?" Ron asked as he entered the kitchen, catching the last bit of conversation.  
  
"Where's Ginny?" asked Harry, looking around.  
  
"Bathroom." Ron replied. "And seeing as how I haven't the faintest on how to use a video tape player, I figured I'd come in here and see if I can help." He walked over and grabbed a soda. "So why are you and Harry talking about those muggle things the go 'boom!'?"  
  
"Honestly Ron, You really should've signed up for Muggle Studies when you had the chance." Hermione said with a shake of her head. "Then you'd know what a VCR and cannon are."  
  
Ron rolled his eyes and leaned closer to whisper loudly to Harry. "Oi, she's in full 'lecture mode' now, Harry!" He then looked at Hermione and said in a louder voice, "Will there be a quiz on this, Professor?"  
  
Hermione, fingers drumming on the counter top, glared witheringly at Ron, while pointedly ignoring Harry's poor attempt at stifling a laugh.  
  
"Since your literary expertise only goes so far as that comic book you read- --" she began.  
  
"Excuse me," interrupted Ron with some annoyance, " Martin Miggs: The Mad Muggle is NOT a 'comic book' but a 'graphic novel'. Plus, I'll have you know that it went as high as number 2 on Witch Weekly's Bestseller list!" he said smugly.  
  
"And what, pray tell, was number one?" Hermione asked primly, and a little of the smugness seemed to melt away from Ron's face. After a moment, he crossed his arms, looked at the air-popper and mumbled something. Hermione, thoroughly enjoying the moment, leaned over and cupped her hand to her ear.  
  
"I'm sorry Ron, I didn't quite catch that." She said brightly. Harry just grinned at the two of them and shook his head.  
  
Ron, still looking vaguely interested in the air-popper, raised an annoyed eyebrow and said through clenched teeth, "The number one book was Hogwarts: A History, End of Millennium Edition." Harry snorted into his soda, but Hermione, being a good sport, simply went over and patted Ron's arm.  
  
"Anyway," continued Hermione, "Canon is basically an accepted set of rules and facts taken from some form of story. For example," she looked at Ron, who still looked irked, "Martin Miggs: we know his name, we know he's mad and we know that he's a muggle. True?"  
  
"True." Ron said.  
  
"Well, in some cases, that would be considered canon."  
  
"Why is that so important?" asked a curious Harry.  
  
"Canon is often the basis for a lot of fanfiction." This drew blank stares from both boys. "They're stories that expand on or add on to an already established story like Star Wars. Harry, I'm surprised, don't you ever surf the Web?"  
  
Harry snorted. "Right, the day Dudley lets me use his computer is the day he also goes in for liposuction."  
  
Ron frowned a bit. "And people read and write that kind of stuff?" Hermione nodded. "Huh, a lot of people have too much free time on their hands, if you ask me." He stopped suddenly as all three of them looked uncomfortably at each other, Ron's words hanging in the air above them.  
  
Harry shook his head. "What does this have anything to do with Luke finding someone?"  
  
"Oh!" Hermione replied as if coming out of a daze. "Well, I don't know that much about her---her name's Moira---Mara something. She has green eyes and red---"  
  
The top of the air-popper suddenly exploded upward with kernels flying everywhere just as Ginny walked in.  
  
"Ron! What did you DO!?" Yelled Hermione as she ran over to the popper, where Ron jumped aside and looked guiltily at her.  
  
"Nothing! I just wanted to make the popper go quicker." He said quickly, "So, I turned the knob all the way to---"  
  
"To what?" she demanded, as popcorn bounced off her hair.  
  
"Eleven." He finished meekly.  
  
"Did I miss much?" Ginny said calmly as she took in the chaos of flying popcorn around her.  
  
Hermione gave a disgusted noise as she unplugged the popper and started picking up as much popcorn as she could from the floor.  
  
"This would be easier with magic---" suggested Ron, but looked away at the glares from everyone else.  
  
"Trust me when I say this Ron," Harry said, dumping a load of popcorn into the bowl, "Getting an owl on the unauthorized use of magic from the Ministry is not a pretty sight. Believe me." Ron simply nodded and kept quiet, while spending the next several minutes helping to pick up as much of the popcorn as possible.  
  
"Well, we saved what we could, so why don't we just catch the rest of the movie?" Suggested Hermione as she heaved the bowl and headed out the kitchen. Fiddling with the remote, she looked over at her companions, "The later half of this movie will definitely blow you away." She said with a grin and hit play.  
  
Everyone watched quietly for a while until Ron spoke, "I don't see why Luke has to face the Dark Lord, especially when he's not a fully trained Jedi. I mean, his friends are getting away scot-free."  
  
"But Luke doesn't know that," Ginny replied, "He probably thinks he has to get by Vader to save them."  
  
"Mental is what he is." Muttered Ron.  
  
"Shh!" said Hermione excitedly, "This is the scene you have to watch." All eyes were glued to the screen.  
  
"Ugh! He cut Luke's hand off!" exclaimed Ginny.  
  
Harry looked a little uncomfortable. "There's something not right about someone getting their hand cut like that." He said uneasily.  
  
"Wait, it gets better---" Hermione said wickedly and turned up the volume. All stared avidly as Vader made his announcement:  
  
"I---am your father!"  
  
Everyone's jaw, with the exception of Hermione's, hit the ground. Ron was thoroughly flabbergasted.  
  
"How---how can ANYONE be related to that black plastic nutter?!"  
  
Hermione pelted Ron with some unpopped kernels. "It's a mask, you git!" she said with a roll of her eyes.  
  
"Oh."  
  
The movie finally ended, and as the credits started to roll, everyone got up and stretched.  
  
"Well, that was good." Ron said, "Even better than the original."  
  
"It was darker," commented Harry, "I can't believe it ended like that though: rebels on the run, Han frozen like a TV dinner."  
  
Hermione brushed away some salt from her jeans. "I know, my mum told me she first saw the movie when she and my dad were dating. She said at the end of the movie, the whole audience sat there waiting for more to happen." She shrugged, "Guess they had to wait 3 more years for that."  
  
"Well---I, for one, hope the last movie ends on a happier note." Ginny said as she stretched.  
  
"You'll just have to wait and see," said Hermione as she started to frown. "Though I hope you like small furry animals."  
  
Harry glanced at Ron, grinning. "You don't think the producers of the movie got Hagrid to loan them some Nifflers, do you?"  
  
"Dunno.but I could see Hagrid trying to find one of those Wampa creatures that had Luke hanging in it's larder. Imagine him bringing one in for his class, kicking and screaming, and asking us to take care of it?" Ron said with a chuckle.  
  
"Oh, taking care of it wouldn't be a problem," Harry calmly said, "It's the feeding part that would be an issue." Everyone gave Harry a quizzical look. "Well, you just KNOW Malfoy would put up a fight once we tried to feed him to it."  
  
Everyone started laughing uproariously.  
  
Hermione stood up still chuckling and shook the bowl. "Well, I think I can squeeze one more batch of popcorn out of the bag I opened, as long as," she glared witheringly at Ron, who suddenly seemed interested in a point farthest away from her, "the popper is still working. In the meantime, Harry, would you mind getting the next tape ready?" With that she went back inside the kitchen followed by Ginny carrying the empty glasses.  
  
Ron sighed, "Blimey, she really has it in for me, eh?" Harry merely shrugged as he rewound the tape and pulled it out. "Guess I shouldn't've played with the popper, huh?" Ron said ruefully.  
  
"Beware the Dark Side, Ron." Harry said with a smile as he popped in the next tape. Ron grimaced at Harry, but said nothing. They sat there for a few minutes as Harry fast-forwarded to the beginning of the next movie.  
  
"You know," Harry began, "You were right---Leia and Han openly fancy one another, and she did say she loved him." He looked a little dismayed at the thought of battling gnomes for a whole week.  
  
Ron merely shrugged, "I guess they found something deep inside each other worth liking." He said with a grimace as he pulled a few kernels out of his hair. "Really deep inside." He murmured.  
  
Harry said nothing, but peered over his glasses at his preoccupied friend, gave a knowing smile, and settled back on the couch. Hermione and Ginny came back out loaded with fresh popcorn and soda.  
  
As Harry accepted a soda from Ginny, he scooted a little to allow Hermione to sit between him and Ron. "Well, you were right so far, Hermione. It's a little confusing in the middle, so I hope everything gets cleared away soon."  
  
"Don't give up on the bet just yet, Harry. Remember, I told you that by the time it's over, it's clear she loves them both, just differently."  
  
Ron's eyebrow went up a bit. "She loves them both? Wow, and here I thought this was only a PG movie." He said innocently. Ginny and Harry both started to laugh and blush simultaneously.  
  
Hermione grabbed the remote from Harry's hand. "Are we all set?" she said with some exasperation. Everyone nodded.  
  
"Lights, Ron?"  
  
Ron turned out the light, but not before winking at Harry. "Got'em. Popcorn?"  
  
"Here," Ginny said, offering him the bowl. "Everyone ready?"  
  
Harry nodded.  
  
"I'm good," Ron said, getting comfortable.  
  
"Right." Hermione said and smiled at her friends. "Then let's go," she said, and pressed play. 


End file.
